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Attachment 1 5 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> NORTH CAROLINA <br /> Date: January 20, 2026 <br /> To: Board of Orange County Commissioners <br /> From: Amy Eckberg, Sustainability Programs Manager <br /> RE: Orange County Community Climate Action Grant—Project Descriptions, Scoring, and Comments for <br /> General Applicants <br /> For the 2025-26 funding cycle of the Orange County Community Climate Action Grant program, $267,750 was <br /> budgeted to support climate action projects that benefit Orange County residents both socially and financially. <br /> In response to feedback from the Board in previous years,the Sustainability team continues its outreach efforts to <br /> publicize the grant opportunity to broaden the applicant pool and increase community awareness of this impactful <br /> climate action program. Staff conducted targeted outreach to local businesses, community groups, and nonprofits <br /> through email campaigns, social media, newsletters, and other promotional media. Our applicant pool continues to <br /> grow and diversify every year as a result of these efforts. The Community Climate Action grant program received a <br /> total of 16 applications in this round whose total requests added up to$619,095. <br /> Following the scoring and eligibility guidelines established by the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC), the <br /> applications were reviewed and scored by the Commission for the Environment (CFE) and the Human Relations <br /> Commission (HRC). The BOCC asked the Human Relations Commission to score the applications on the Social Justice <br /> and Racial Equity criterion, as this pertains to their expertise and because the racial representation of the CFE as a <br /> whole does not reflect the racial diversity of Orange County. <br /> The following is a rank-order summary table of the combined project scoring and funding recommendations.A full <br /> table showing the scores for each project on each of the 7 scoring elements is included in the Appendix. <br /> Total <br /> Applicant Amount Recommended Score <br /> Rank Name Project Name Project Summary Requested Funding (out of <br /> 26) <br /> A partnership between <br /> Wildflower Lane Farm and <br /> Table to use unused land at <br /> Table Twin Creeks an undeveloped Orange <br /> Ministries, Inc. Farm Expansion County Park(Twin Creeks)to $50,000 $30,000 21.57 <br /> increase locally sourced, <br /> nutritious food to feed children <br /> served by Table. <br /> Installation of sustainable <br /> stormwater management <br /> measures in historically <br /> High-School underserved communities <br /> Urban Students utilizing public HS teachers <br /> 2 Sustainability and students in a certified $52,000 $38,000 21.35 <br /> Solutions, Inc. Installing Riparian green infrastructure training <br /> Buffers program to implement these <br /> measures, especially in areas <br /> affected by tropical storm <br /> Chantal. <br /> P.O. Box 8181 * Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278 <br /> Telephone: (919)245-2625 <br />